A
Nigerian pastor, one Mr Chukwudi Okechukwu, who preaches in Tanzania,
under the umbrella of the Lord Chosen Church of Nigeria, has reportedly
bagged a 30-year jail term after being convicted of smuggling cocaine
worth Sh3.1 billion.

According to reports, Okechukwu, who
Anti-narcotics police allegedly believe is one of the top members of a
drug syndicate operating in Tanzania, Nigeria and South Africa, was
jailed alongside a South African, one Stan Hycent and Pakistani Shoaib
Mohammad Ayazi over the same offence.

He
and his three accomplices were reportedly hiding in a mansion in Dar es
Salaam’s Kuduchi Mtongani suburbs when the police allegedly surrounded
the house and arrested them.

Anti-narcotics police had received
information about foreigners who were planning to smuggle into the
country a huge quantity of cocaine and store it in a house in Kunduchi
Mtongani.

However, a surveillance team led by head of Anti-Drugs
Unit, ADU, Godfrey Nzowa, was deployed to keep an eye on the mansion
that the preacher and his accomplices had rented.

The team had purportedly knocked on the front gate in their bid to arrest the suspected drug dealers.

Soon
after the police knocked on the gate and introduced themselves, reports
further revealed that the four suspects started running around the
house in apparent fear and panic.

There was an alleged
cat-and-mouse chase drama inside the compound as the police tried to get
hold of one of the suspects as he was attempting to jump over the
fence. Three suspects were arrested inside the house.

The Nigerian suspect was reportedly the only one who managed to jump over the wall but was arrested after a chase by the police.

Upon
searching the house, anti-drugs police allegedly seized 81 packets of
drugs which were later confirmed by a Chief Government chemist to be
cocaine hydrochloride.

However, intelligence report revealed he
visited Tanzania some years back and had made a name for himself as a
pastor at his ‘Kinondoni Biafra’ church and won many followers.

The
head of Anti-Drugs Unit, Nzowa, reportedly described their jailing as
‘another great achievement’ in Tanzania’s efforts to fight drug
trafficking.

“Unlike a gun or pistol which kills people
instantly, drugs are killing the young generation slowly. If we are not
aggressive in fighting the illicit trade we may find ourselves losing
the young generation,” he said.

Nzowa also added that drug
business was a threat to national security especially when foreigners
are left to operate in the country.

“The jailing of the Nigerian
pastor and his co-conspirators brought to three, the number of high
profile drug cases that have been heard and determined by the High Court
in the space of three months.

“Early in September, the same
court sentenced to 20 years a young Tanzanian, Fred William Chonde, to
20 years in jail after it found him guilty of possessing 180kg worth Sh
5.2 billion and ordered him to pay a Sh 15 billion fine,” Nzowa noted.

“Again
last month, the court sentenced a businessman, Kadiria Saidi Kimaro,
who attempted to smuggle 91 heroin capsules that he had swallowed,
through Julius Nyerere International Airport, JNIA, to 20 years in jail.
He was also ordered to pay Sh122 million in fine.”

Nzowa further
noted that the speed with which the Judiciary hears and determined the
drug cases has renewed hopes by anti-drugs campaigners who had accused
courts of mishandling drug cases.

“There has been a concern that
the way court handled drug trafficking cases might make it easy for the
convicts to later secure freedom or bail in what could be viewed as
disregard of the law,” he noted.

“Corruption and influence
peddling by highly placed individuals have been cited as one factor that
frustrates the war against traffickers.”

However, the judiciary
has repeatedly defended itself over the accusations, saying shoddy
police investigations and poor prosecution were to blame for the
circumstance.